It is a bitterly cold day at Cliveden House in Berkshire and the film director Sadie Frost, fresh from yoga training in India, is acclimatising with a cup of breakfast tea (Yorkshire, her favourite) as her miniature dachshund, Cherry, lies like a hot-water bottle on her lap.
The historic hotel has hosted every reigning British monarch since George I and served as the backdrop to the Profumo affair in the 1960s – and it was here where Sadie celebrated her 60th birthday with 15 of her closest girlfriends last year.
© Christopher Fenner"We had a beautiful dinner and then went on a private boat along the river," she says, kicking her feet up on the velvet sofa. "I love this hotel. I remember the first time I came with Gary [Kemp, the lead guitarist of Spandau Ballet and the father of her eldest son, Finlay, a creative consultant] about 30 years ago; I thought it was the poshest place I’d ever been to. I kept coming back. Stella [McCartney] had her [50th] birthday here, too."
It is the perfect place to launch her collection of Frost Chakra bags – the latest career pivot in what has been a spectacular Second Act reinvention. A single mother, Sadie was in her early fifties when her four children – Finlay, 35, actor Rafferty, 29, model Iris, 25, and model Rudy, 23 (the youngest three from her marriage to the actor Jude Law) – started to leave home.
Empty nest
The adjustment to having an empty nest was a "big shock", she says. "My mum brought up me and my five sisters in an open house around Primrose Hill, and I did the same with my kids. Suddenly they all left – it went from one extreme to the other. So I started a bucket list of things I’d always wanted to do and started ticking them off.
© Christopher Fenner"I love being a mum, but I also like living life to the full and feeling alive and engaged. Without school runs and managing the kids' diaries, I realised I could do so much more.
"I had a big career change and I can now travel for a month to India or Malta to learn yoga or to host a retreat with my sister [Holly, 46]. You can’t do that when you have small kids. A lot of women on the trips are in their sixties and feel the same. It’s their time now."
"I started a bucket list of things I’d always wanted to do and started ticking them off. I love being a mum, but I also like living life to the full and feeling alive and engaged. Without school runs and managing the kids' diaries, I realised I could do so much more."
Career pivot
In 1992, aged 27, Sadie was on the brink of Hollywood stardom after appearing in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula alongside Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder, but decided to prioritise raising her family.
She returned to education in 2013, taking an MA in film studies at Staffordshire University and graduating aged 50 with a distinction. After a directing course at Raindance Film School in London, she created a fashion documentary for Mary Quant in 2021; another, for Twiggy, was released last March to critical acclaim. "It’s been a dream," she says, clearly invigorated by her new chapter.
She is currently working on a documentary about Quadrophenia, the 1979 film based on The Who's 1973 album, with the band’s bassist, Pete Townshend, as well as a string of fashion projects that she can’t talk about just yet. Is her long-term friend Kate Moss involved? "Oh God, no, I couldn’t do Kate – I couldn’t mix work with friendship," she says.
Friendship
This is not the same girl who was spotted hanging out at the Groucho Club with Kate Moss and Meg Mathews in the Nineties, however. Sadie 2.0 is too focused on making a success of her new career, ticking off her midlife bucket list and being a grandmother to her son Finlay’s daughter, Daya.
Her perfect Friday, she tells me, is waking up early for yoga, taking Daya to playgroup and visiting the cinema in the afternoon to watch a documentary for homework, then going to bed by 8pm.
"I'm still friends with all my old friends, but the relationships change. Now I like learning and doing really interesting things – you can’t do that if you’re going for dinners and events. That part of my life became less. If I do have time, I want to be with my kids."
Becoming a grandmother was a game-changer. "I am Nana Mimi," she says proudly. "I Googled the names for 'Nana' in other tongues, then realised that Twiggy is Mimi too – maybe I picked it up from her. Daya is such a little character; I love her."
One of her gifts to her family is yoga, something that has helped her cope with the pressures of living life in the public eye. Her mother, Mary, 77, who practises every day, taught Sadie to do the same. "My mum knew about wellness before it became a commodity," she says.
Sadie now teaches classes for people aged from 14 to 80 in a local community centre where she blends into the crowd. "I’ve never noticed if they recognise me," she says.
"As you get older, you're carrying more baggage and life becomes tougher," she continues. "Yoga helps you feel your best and cope with situations, whether it's the death of a family member, divorce or just stress. It’s a tool for longevity and accepting growing older." Her favourite style is jivanmukti. "It means 'liberated soul'," she smiles.
© Christopher FennerPassion Project
It was her passion for spiritual wellness that inspired Frost Chakra, a range of vegan leather handbags (Sadie is a lifelong vegetarian) that are themed according to chakras, the ancient energy centres of the body. "Creating the bags was just another extension of doing something I love," Sadie says of her range, which is available online and at the spa at Cliveden House. "I’ve carried mine all around India with a yoga mat inside."
At one point during the photoshoot, Sadie’s dog, Cherry, who has her own Instagram account, climbs inside the bag and the star carries her around. "My cat, Earl Grey, died the other day, so she is like my little shadow; she won’t leave me," Sadie says. "I think when anyone dies, animal or human, it makes you realise how precious life is. You have to live it to the full."
To read the full article, join Best Quality Designer Handbag 's VIP club for instant access to the magazine on your digital device. The print magazine is available on newsstands now.
